Adults aren’t the only ones who spend a significant portion of their days sitting. Just as many grownups go to sedentary jobs, kids spend hours daily rooted to chairs in classrooms. All the while childhood obesity continues to be a major problem, and recent research published in the journal Pediatrics indicates it’s only getting worse, reflecting how weight concerns afflict people of all ages in the U.S.
Just as long work days can make it harder for adults to exercise, academic demands have squeezed out physical education time and active play time in many schools. This has happened even as many experts point out that not getting ample physical activity is counterproductive for kids, like it is for adults — that it can hurt academic performance, just as poor diet and lack of sleep can.
While the tug of war continues regarding the best way to spend school time, and where after-school programs also compete for parents’ and kids’ attention, there’s another strategy being deployed to encourage kids to be active. Recently researchers evaluated how a before-school physical activity program might help in tackling childhood obesity, by measuring the effects of a 12-week program on body mass index, or BMI, as well as social-emotional wellness in kindergarten to eighth grade students.
[See: 10 Concerns Parents Have About Their Kids’ Health.]
A total of 707 kids at 24 schools in Massachusetts were studied, including 274 children who participated in a Build Our Kids Success before-school physical activity program two days a week, 151 students who were in a BOKS program three days a week and 282 children who didn’t participate in the physical activity program at all serving as a control group. The BOKS sessions lasted about an hour, starting with a warm-up game, and then transitioned into running, relay races or obstacle courses. They also included a skill of the week, such as plank, running or jumping, the researchers noted.
“It’s important to find ways that are both feasible and sustainable for kids to be active during the day,” says Dr. Rachel Whooten, a pediatrician specializing in endocrinology at MassGeneral Hospital for Children, part of Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston, who led the research which was published, initially online last month, in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. “And I think that taking advantage of this before-school time is a great way to do that without worrying about imposing too much burden on the other parts of life that can be busy.”
The study found that participating in a before-school activity program three days a week resulted in improved, or lower, BMI, compared with not participating at all, and that it prevented increases in child obesity. While researchers say the study “is unique in explicitly evaluating BMI outcomes for before-school physical activity intervention,” they noted that it also adds to limited research finding before-school activity not only increases kids’ total daily activity but has been shown to reduce the percentage of kids classified as overweight and improve body composition.
“Basically we want to just have kids in this critical period of their life be involved in activities that can prevent them progressing to being overweight or obese,” Whooten says.
The study did not find effects on BMI in kids who participated in a before-school activity program just two days a week. But kids in both the two- and three-day groups experienced improvements in social-emotional wellness. “Students participating in the intervention also had significant improvement in student engagement, positive affect, and vitality/energy measures,” researchers noted.
Among other limitations, the study wasn’t, by design, a randomized controlled trial — the gold standard in research — so as to allow all students an equal opportunity to participate in a BOKS program. And more research is needed to evaluate the before-school approach. However, experts say the initial signs are positive, and that before-school activity — where feasible — could be another viable strategy to help keep kids healthy.
“Children in the United States are not meeting recommended physical activity guidelines,” says Dr. Sarah Armstrong, an associate professor of pediatrics at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina, and the associate director of the Duke Center of Childhood Obesity Research. Armstrong was the senior author of research recently published in the journal Pediatrics evaluating the prevalence of obesity in U.S. children. “So any program that can come up with creative ways to increase children’s physical activity is going to be associated with positive health outcomes,” she says.
[See: 11 Ways Healthy Community Design is Working.]
According to the latest “Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans” from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, children and adolescents ages 6 to 17 should do 60 minutes or more of physical activity daily. The guidelines advise that kids incorporate aerobic activity — like running or playing tagging — as well as muscle-strengthening and bone-strengthening activity at least three days (for each) weekly. “That would involve for children monkey bars, jumping, sports — isometric-type activities,” Armstrong notes. “Most children are not getting that amount of activity, and it decreases with age.” As kids go from elementary school to middle school to high school, they’re increasingly missing the mark by a wider margin.
While there’s no single driver or solution for childhood obesity — and certainly other measures like cutting down on sugar-sweetened beverages and reducing screen time are needed — experts say reworking schedules so that activity is again prioritized is important. BOKS, a free program, is present in more than 2,500 elementary and middle schools across the country and internationally, researchers note in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine study; and experts say in an effort to make up for limited activity during the school day, before-school programs are catching on.
“It’s just another example of exercise programs that are benefiting the youth who we’ve been stealing exercise from within the school day,” says Rick Richey, a personal trainer, master instructor for the National Academy of Sports Medicine and owner of Independent Training Spot in New York City.
Richey says the biggest impediment to kids participating in such programs is clearly logistics. “It’d be difficult not just for the children who also at younger ages need more sleep, but for parents getting them out the door — and what’s that look like for them when it comes to school day and drop-off? — things like that,” Richey says. It’s not necessarily untenable to get kids to school early to get them moving for about 40 to 45 minutes, as BOKS flagship program is designed to do (with an option for after-school activity, too); but particularly where it doesn’t align with parent work schedules, it may not be an option.
There’s also concern that schools aren’t starting late enough as it is for kids to get adequate shut-eye. Though the study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine only evaluated kindergarten through eighth grade students, experts say, in particular, that early start times at most high schools aren’t conducive to adolescents’ shifting circadian rhythms.
“If I had my druthers I would have the school day — the academic school day — start a little bit later, and then have the option for the early morning workout programs to begin later than they would if the academic school day wasn’t pushed back,” Richey says.
DIYing this kind of workout program at home may also be difficult — requiring an extra level of coordination and planning and everyone getting up a bit earlier. Some adults are studious about working out in the mornings, and in some cases parents may be able to work out with kids, especially as they get older (or modify a routine to make it more fun and inclusive for younger children). But you don’t need to design a workout program get kids active.
[See: 10 Fun, Fresh Ways to Work Out Together as a Family.]
“Kids really do love to move,” Whooten reminds. So even just cranking up music in the morning and letting kids jump around is better than everyone sitting idle. “Setting up any kind of fun games or even putting on music and dancing [lowers] the barrier to thinking that kids have to be doing something special or sports-related to be active,” she says. “Really just kind of making movement fun is the key.”
More from U.S. News
9 Offbeat Physical Activity Hacks for People Who Really Hate to Exercise
4 Opioid Drugs Parents Should Have on Their Radar
Green Exercise: 10 Ways to Incorporate Nature Into Your Workout Routine
Could Before-School Physical Activity Be the ‘Apple’ Your Child Needs? originally appeared on usnews.com
